Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I assuming that someone here has put living plants in there setup. How has this gone? Any problems other than them getting eaten?

I was pondering putting in a few live cacti. I was thinking that if I left the cacti potted and just covered it with substrate it shouldn't be a problem. Only thing I could think of that may be harmful is the spines (or whatever they are called). But since uros are a desert animal this shouldn't be a problem, should it?

In the wild, cacti wouldn't pose a problem. In a confined environment (cage), it very likely could. Uros don't "glass-dance" in the wild. But they go nuts everyday for a half-hour or so when confined. That could lead to some puncture problems. Why do it? It would only complicate your husbandry routine (now you're taking care of not only the Uro but plants as well) but, mostly, your Uro doesn't require it. Stick to simple. You'll be happy you did.

many cacti & succulents are also poisonous.
there have been several users posting about bad experiences with uros taking bites out of mystery cacti...
best not to risk it.
but if you really want to try it out, opunta usually stay around a foot tall, and the flowers, pads & fruit are edible (nopales & cactus/prickly pears are opunta).
--benedita

>>I was pondering putting in a few live cacti. I was thinking
>>that if I left the cacti potted and just covered it with
>>substrate it shouldn't be a problem.
You don' tknow what vfertilizers and insecticides might leech into the environment or be excavated and consumed.

>>Only thing I could think of that may be harmful is the spines
>>(or whatever they are called).
If there is ever a supposition of possible harm, why would you do it?

>>But since uros are a desert animal this shouldn't be a >>problem, should it?
What the other posters said, plus one point unmade:
Cactus are endemic to North and South America. All other "cactus" you may acquire are not cactus, but some other variation of succulent with varying levels of toicity, many of which tends towards high levels of toxicity.
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uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian), hardwickii (Indian),
macfadyeni (Somalian), ocellata (Sudanese), ornata (Ornate), benti pseudophilbyi